Cororado or Kansas quail and Pheasant

L

Little Creek

New member
I am planning to be in the Denver area on November 16, 2014. I would like to spend a few days hunting birds over my spaniel in either Eastern CO, Western KS or possibly SW Nebraska. I am starting from scratch here as I know little about these areas, other than I shot quail in Kansas near Manhattan many years ago.

I am interested in any one or more of these species, Quail, Sharptail Grouse, Prairie Chickens, or Pheasant. I am not interested in expensive lodges, and don't need a guide or dogs. Just places to run my very experienced spaniel.

Please refer me to any decent bulletin board site or resource or even places to hunt. I would appreciate any help I get! Thanks! Mike
 
A good place to start might be to get a Walk in Hunting atlas for Kansas and Colorado. I don't know what Nebraska has, but i'm sure they have something like that. Also look for a State Wildlife Area atlas for Colorado. Another good idea might be to go around wherever there's good pheasant country and ask some landowners if you can hunt. It's probably going to take some scouting to find the birds that you're looking for, so don't be afraid to check out the areas that you want to hunt before you hunt them.
 
Sharptails are a mountain deal....hunting the right areas can be good but slim pickens...eastern Colorado sucks for pheasant...don't know much about Prairie Chickens...quail also sucks in Colorado. And if it was any good, no one on this site will tell you. SWA's in Colorado offer very limited opportunities.

Kansas is your best bet at that time...lots of public areas and decent numbers of birds. Good Luck.
 
I would advise waiting till summer.....going on each state's website and review the bird counts and breeding success from this spring....it's probably not going to be great with the long streak of bad weather...its going to be especially tough on the quail...talk to wildlife biologists ...they will help you. good luck. myself....I would probably lean towards Kansas first...Nebraska second. Nebraska is a sleeper state though.....will be even better if they missed alot of the bad weather that Kansas...MO and IL have gotten this winter. I have a buddy that lives in NE and alot of times when Kansas and the rest of us get hammered...they get nothing. those are the little details that make a huge difference
 
Kansas is probably your best bet, especially if you want quail. Colorado has pheasants and a few quail, but your chances of success on one hunt are poor without any local knowledge or experience. All of the mountain grouse seasons are closed in Colorado by November. SW Nebraska is good as well, but Nebraska has far more limited public access compared to Kansas.
 
MIght look up and call the Wildlife Resource manager in the states you are investigating. If they can, usually pretty helpful folks...within a sense of giving you a "general direction."

Good luck.
 
Little Creek, Kansas will be your best bet with walk in Atlas and maybe a knock or 2 on a door. You may find a Quail or 2 and a few Pheasants in Eastern Colorado. Sharptail season will be over by the time you get here and Prairie chicken is usually by permit only in just a few spots. You could find Chickens, Pheasants and quail in the same general area in Kansas instead of driving a bunch of miles here. Drought has hurt both places hard, so everyone needs a great breeding season for the next few years.
 
jsdriggs said:
Sharp tails are not a mountain thing where I find them. Open grasslands. They do like wooded coulees on moderate slopes adjacent to grasslands.
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colorado has mountain variety of sharptail in and around the area i believe north and west of steamboat but not as far as craig. the guys that hunt them get em'

cheers
 
where to go

nobody has to lie on that one, it ain't gonna make any diff. one way or the other. if it were me, you will be at or about opening weekend. i would drive to kansas, about 3 hours from denver. the plus is, after you get there you will find some land to hunt on an in colorado it just might be a chore. assuming you are in the n. w. part of the state, you will not find any quail, prairie chicken nor sharptails. you would have to go quite a ways into neb. to get into those and quail will stll be scare. beside, sharptails aren't fit to eat anyway. to find the most amount of land to hunt, to to kansas. follow their website and eventually they will post surveys and conditions. remember though, they want to sell licenses but you have to start someplace. kansas has a wonderful walkin atlas, free!!

cheers
 
jsdriggs said:
Sharp tails are not a mountain thing where I find them. Open grasslands. They do like wooded coulees on moderate slopes adjacent to grasslands.
Click to expand...

Thanks...I didn't mean like 10,000 feet mountain...just that they aren't found in Colorado anywhere near NE or KS and he would have to go quite a ways west, over the Continental divide and into mountain basins to find sharptail...but you are correct that once in those Colorado areas, open grasslands next to areas of brush on moderate slopes is where they are found alot. :cool:
 
jsdriggs said:
Sharp tails are not a mountain thing where I find them. Open grasslands. They do like wooded coulees on moderate slopes adjacent to grasslands.
Click to expand...

In Colorado there are two species of Sharptails, the Columbian (Mountain) and the Plains Sharptail. The only sharptails you are allowed to hunt are Coulumbian Sharptail Grouse which are primarily found in the NW corner of the state. This is a different grouse than what most people in the US hunt. They favor similar habitat as the Plains Sharptail but at higher elevations.
 
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